Bed for growing grass and other vegetation.



F. W. TAYLDR. DECD. E. w. CLARK. 30, EXECUTOR. BED FOR GROWING GRASS ANDOTHER VEGETATION.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4, I9l2. 1,1?1559.

Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

WITNESSES 4 72 JM'ENTOR A TTORNE Y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK W. TAYLOR, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA; EDWARD W. CLARK, 3D,

7 EXECUTOR OF SAID TAYLOR, DECEASED.

BED FOR GROWING GRASS AND OTHER VEGETATION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 15, 1916.

Application filed January 4, 1912. Serial No. 669,317.

To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, FREDERICK W. TAY- LOR, acitizen of the United States of America, residing in Philadelphia,county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented acertain new and use ful Improvement in Beds for Growing Grass and otherVegetation, of which the following is a true and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a partthereof.

My present invention consists in a bed for growing grass and othervegetation characterized by certain features of construction andarrangement employed on the one hand to facilitate and cheapen the costof construction of the bed, and on the other hand to insure suitableroot growing spaces extending to a considerable depth below the surfaceof the bed, with adequate supplies of air and root food available-to theroots growing therein whereby a deep growth ofroots is encouraged, andto give ,the bed as a whole a large capacity for absorbing moisturesupplied from time to time, eithernaturally or artificially and to holdthe moisture so absorbed available to the growhowever, and theadvantages possessed by it reference should be had to the accompanyingdrawings and descriptive matter in which I have illustrated anddescribed two forms in which my invention may be embodied.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a portion of a bedconstructed in accordance with one form of my present invention, andFig. 2 is a view taken similarly to Fig. 1 illustrating a modified bedconstruction.

In the drawings and referring first to the construction shown in Fig. 1,the bed proper comprises a top soil stratum composed of the layers A andB which follow the contour of the surface of the bed, and

I a deep rooting subsoil stratum composed of bodies 0 and D, shown asalternate layers, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of about 45degrees.

Where the underlying earth is of a gravelly nature,,0r is otherwiseadapted to provide adequate. drainage for the bed structure pro-per, thebodies C and D may rest directly on this underlying earth. Where theunderlying earth is of a more or less impervious character, however, itmay be necessary to make drainage provisions for the bed structure, andin Fig. 1, I have shown drainage provisions consisting of a layer F ofbroken stone resting directly upon the underlying earth G with a filterscreen FS interposed between the broken stone layer F and the subsoilstratum of the bed proper. The filter screen FS may be composed oflayers of sand and fine broken stone or pebbles of graduated fineness,and is employed to prevent the bed structure proper from washing downinto the drainage layer F of broken rock.

In general, the top soil stratum is adapted to serve as a germinatinglayer for seeds deposited in it and to encourage quick and rapid growthof the fine newly grown roots issuing from the seeds and from the mainroot crowns, and to serve also as a sort of are constructed to make themreadily penetrable by the growing roots and to insure the supply of airdirectly necessary for the root growth and necessary also to prevent anyplant food and water holding material contained in the bodies C fromsouring or rotting, and to prevent objectionable sourness of the bodiesD which are of such composition as to make the rich sources of plantfood and to give them a large water absorbing and retaining capacity.The total percentage of void space per unit of volume in the bodies Dneed not differ materially from that in the bodies C but the individualvoids in the bodies D are much smaller than in the bodies 0.

To provide the proper character of void space in the bodies C, Ipreferably form these bodies in the construction shown in Fig. 1, with askeleton or cellular framework composed of parts C which I desiglarger.

nate generically by the term small stones, and which may be pebbles,broken brick or broken stone. The small stones C may advantageously runfrom one quarter to three quarters of an inch in size or may be even Ingeneral, the small stones C should be tolerably uniform in size at thesame levels throughout any one bed, but *may advantageously be smallerat the top of the bed than at the bottom of the bed especially where thebeds serve as putting greens. In such case the use of small stoneslarger than the one-quarter or three-eighth size near the top of thegreen is objectionable because they interfere with cutting out theputting hole, which, as is known to all golf players, must be frequentlyshifted from one part of the green to another during the playing season.

Where the bed is to serve as a putting green, there is an advantageinusinground or roundish pebbles in the upper portions of the bodies orlayers C, because of the greater ease with which the putting hole may becut out. Advantageously the small stones C or at least those employed inthe lower portions of the bodies or layers C are of a porous waterabsorbing character, and for this reason I consider bricks of a porouscharacter to be an .advantageous material out of which to form the smallstones, especially asthey may be cheaply produced in many cases bypassing the brick bat refuse of brick yards through a suitable crushingmill. The material which I consider most advantageous for this use,however, is a porous limestone found, for instance, near Sandusky,Ohio,- which possesses substantially the same porosity as highly porousbricks, and in addition serves to give a desirable basisity to the soil.This porous limestone is a secondary formation formed from lime whichhasbeen held in solution.

Preferably I fill the void spaces between the bodies of small stones Cwith a material which has a sponge-like water holding capacity and isadapted to supply some of the food required by the growing roots. Thefilling material which I consider most advantageous for this purpose isdecayed vegetable matter, such as leaf mold, or Jersey peat. Thisdecayed vegetable matter may be enriched by the addition of materialcontaining desirable root nourishing characteristics, such as cowmanure.

I It, may advantageously be mixed also, with a substance, such as Idesignate by the term lifting sand, to add to the water holding capacityof the material partially filling the spaces between the small stones O,and when in the course of time the leaf mold is absorbed or used'up bythe plant life this lifting sand remains as a permanent dwelling placefor the roots.

I prefer to use leaf mold which is well' rotted, and for this reason Iprefer to take the leaf mold, not from the very top of the forest soilbut from layers slightly below- By the term lifting sand I mean toinclude both natural and artificially formed granular compositions, ofwhich certain fine sands are typical, having their void spaces of suchfinenessthat a mass of the material possesses capillary propertieseffective to draw Water many inches above the level of a pool or a bodyof water in contact with the base of the mass, and to hold water soabsorbed indefinitely, except as it may lose it by evaporation or bycontact with absorbing agents. In a. prior application Serial No.573,958, filed July 26, 1910, I have discussed the subject of liftingsands in some detail and have pointed outiii particular that one verydesirable lifting sand,

Length of side of S l8V6 openings in inches.

Philadelphia bar sand.

Sieve 'meshcs per inch.

It will be understood that the sieves re ferred to above are standardsieves in which the number of meshes -per inch means the number ofmeshes per linear inch.

A column of the M. O. sand is capable of lifting water thirty-fiveinches or more above the surface of the body of water with which. thebase of. the column is in contact. The high lifting capacity of thissand depends, I believe, upon the fact that a considerable portion ofthe sand is so fine that it may be called an impalpable powder.

The substance which I designate herein as Jersey peat visthe substanceknown by that name'to dealers in greenhouse and gardening material inand about Philadelphia,

Pa. This substance 'is decayed vegetable matter which has not yetreached the completely powdered state and has not entirely lost itsfibrous form, which is found at the top of the forest soil in New Jerseyand in other localities. It lies from three inches to three feet deepbelow the surface of the ground. Throughout this product there stillremains old stems, twigs, branches, roots and limbs, 'Which have notentirely lost their form and still have some woody fiber left in them,and in addition the roots of growing vegetation. This substance is ,muchlike the leaf mold referred to above both with respect to its waterholding capacity and its liability to rot when kept moist and compressedso as to be very dense or otherwise subjected to air excludingconditions.

One concrete example of a composition which I consider desirable for thelayers or bodies C is the following: five parts of small stones mixedwith four parts of a mixture consistingof two parts of Jersey peat, onepart of M. O. sand, and one part of cow manure, which, in allcompositions of this character, should be well rotted. In forming theabove, mentioned composition and others hereinafter referred to, volumemeasurements are employed and the different constituents are measureddry. The Jersey peat should be chopped up, as by runningit through afeed cutter, so that there will be no pieces of roots longer than aboutonehalf inch, and the cow manure should also be thoroughly broken up.

Another composition for the bodies G which has given excellent resultsin prac-' tice is formed by mixing with five parts of small'f stones,three. parts of Jersey peat ground fine and from which all stems, rootsand fibrous matter have been eliminated by screening.

The void space in a mass of stones runs from about 37 per cent. withround smooth pebbles up to about 55 per cent. of the total apparentvolume of the mass in the case of jagged broken stones. When the waterabsorbing plant food nourishing material is mixed with the small stones,as specified above, to form' the bodies C, the stones proper occupy astill smaller proportion of the total space apparently occupied by thestones and the material mixed therewith. The presence of the smallstones C in the bodies C thus insure the presence of void spaces throughwhich the growing roots readily pass and which contain adequate suppliesof air. The use of small stones in the bodies C is not essential,however, to give these bodies the necessary root penetrability, and toinsure proper air supplies for the growing roots. Certain coarse grainedsoils possess the desired penetrability and contain sufiicient air inthe voids between the soil grains to encourage the growth of roots.Moreover, the growing roots as they push their way through such a soil,make channels or passages which materially aid in supplying the desiredsufficiency of air. The Jersey peat also, when simply chopped up forms amaterial which may be used without admixture of any other material toserve as a filler between the bodies D since, this Jersey peat is easilypenetrable by the growing roots and contains a sufiicient supply of airfor the growing roots, the presence of the twigs, limbs, and rootscontributing materially to the open character of this material.

Various compositions may be usedto form the bodies D which are intendedto have a large water holding capacity and to form rich sources of plantfood, and because of these characteristics, and also because the. voidspaces therein are small, are not penetrated readily in rapidly growingroots, although suckers from. the roots growing in the bodies C drawlarge quantities of food as well as; moisture from the adjacent bodiesD. One composition for the bodies D which I have employed-with excellentresults consists of a mixture of about equal parts of the M. O. sand anddry cow manure. Instead of combining these constituents in equalproportions, two or three parts of M.

O. sand to one part of cow manure may be employed with good results. Inlieu of the M. O. sand, I may also, and I believe preferably, employcertain heavy clays of fine texture which have very substantial waterab-' sorbing and retaining properties, one, two or three parts of theclay being mixed with dry cow manure or equivalent plant nourishingfood.

The arrangement of the bodies C and D in inclinedlayers, as shown inFig. 1, is advantageous in that it facilitates the construction of thebed, and is advantageous also in 'D. In order to encourage the roots togrow down into the bodies C I prefer to bevel off the edge of the bodiesD along the lines D D", as shown in Fig. 1, and to correspondinglyenlarge the upper edges of the bodies C.

The'materials forming the bodies 0 and D are thoroughly mixed and arethenmois tened sufficiently to make them quite readily plastic beforethe bodies are formed and put in place. The angle at which the bodies Cand D are inclined to the horizontal in the 1 construction shown in Fig.1 enables each body when put in place to retain its shape during thetime required to put the adjacent and overlying bodyin place, and ofcourse each of these bodies when put in place tends to preserve the formof the portion of the bed already constructed. While the bodies C and Dmay be formed in situ in a manner analogous to that in which mortar isput in place, I consider it advantageous to form these bodies intrough-like molds of convenient lengths and to discharge the moldedbodies from the molds directly into place. The bodies C and D may be ofany convenient'length, ordinarily they extend clear across the bed ofwhich they form a part. The depth of the subsoil stratum depends uponconditions. For growing grass for putting greens I regard twelve inchesas a satisfactory depth. The bodies C and D may vary in thicknessordinarily from one to five inches. For growing grass I prefer to havethem each about one inch thick.

A wide range of materials and compositions may be employed in the topsoil layers -A and B in order to enable this stratum to perform itsdouble function of serving as a mulch to restrict the evaporation ofmoisture from the subsoil stratum, and of germinating seeds deposited init and of encouraging a vigorous growth of roots therein. One example ofa suitable composition for the layer B is two parts of Jersey peatshredded one, one part of cow manure and one part of moisture holdingsand such as the M. O. sand. For growing grass the layer B may be aboutone inch thick.

The layer A is the germinating layer proper and its character andthickness depends somewhat upon the conditions which the bed is intendedto meet. In growing red fescue frass for instance, I have had excellentresults by making this layer about three-quarters of an inch thick andof a composition consisting of one part of red fescue grass seed andabout eight parts of germinating material, which in this case iscomposed of one part of leaf mold or J ersey peat or equivalentsubstance and one or more parts of a sand such as that which I callPhiladelphia bar sand. The granular characteristics of this sand havealready been given herein. This sand is not what I call a high liftingsand and its water absorbing and holding properties are indicated by thefact that it will lift water only from five to seven inches.

The germinating material after being thoroughly mixed and properlymoistened may be put in place by the use of a trowel or like device. Iuse such a sand as Philadelphia bar sand in combination with leaf moldas germinating material to give a desirable porosity to the germinatinglayer and because of the fact that with this composition the seedsgerminate, and the blades of grass find their way to the surface aboutequally well Whether the germinating layer is left loose or is packed,as by being walked upon.

The germinating layer, as I have already indicated, should vary with thecharacter of the seeds, for instance, with very fine grass seeds thislayer may be only three sixteenths of an inch thick. In place of leafmold, I may employ, of course, Jersey peat and other suitable materialsin the germinating layer.

A highly desirable substitute in the top soil for the leaf mold orJersey peat, is the material obtainable in the Netherlands and known aspeat moss. This substance, when used in the germinating layer A, ispreferably ground or shredded to such a fineness that it will pass asieve having 14 meshes to the inch, and I mix from four to eight partsof the shredded mixture with one part of seeds to form the germinatinglayer. When using this material in the layer B I shred it or grind it sothat it will pass a sieve of from 8 to 14 meshes to the inch, and y imix two parts of peat moss with about one part of cow manure.

No claim is made herein on germinating or blanket layers characterizedby the presence of peat moss as this subject matter is fully disclosedand claimed in my copending application, Serial No. 49653, filedSeptember 9, 1915.

Certain general principles utilized in the construction of the bedsdisclosed herein are explained in my prior application, Serial No.573,958, referred to above, and are utilized in the invention claimedtherein. The arrangement disclosed herein, however, in which a deeprooting subsoil stratum is formed with segregated bodies of waterabsorbing and rich plant food containing bodies which are spaced apartbythe more open root penetrable soil, constitutes an important practicalimprovement over the apparatus disclosed in my prior application. Whilethe beds disclosed herein are particularly useful for growing finegrasses such as are desirable for putting greens, they form effectivedevices for growing vegetation of a very different character. Forinstance, they may be excellent beds in which to grow roses.

In growing vegetation such as roses, the depth of the subsoil stratumshould ordinarily be greater than is required for growing grasses, andthe distances between adjacent dense water holding and rich foodcontaining bodies as Well as the dimensions of said bodies may beadvantageously made considerably greater than in growing grass.

While I consider the inclined layer arrangement of the open rootcontaining material and the dense water holding and food containingmaterial shown in Fig. 1 to be especially advantageous, it will beapparent to those skilled in the art that other arrangements of thesematerials may be made without departing from the broad principles of thepresent invention. One alternative arrangement in this respect is shownin Fig. 2, wherein the parts A, B, FS and F are arranged as in Fig. 1,but in Fig. 2 the deep rooting subsoil stratum may be regarded asconsisting of a layer of material GA which may be identical with thatemployed in the bodies C of Fig. 1, and which has interspersedthroughout it layers or bodies DA which may be identical in compositionwith the bodies I) of Fig. 1. The bodies DA are arranged, as shown inFig. 2, likebricks in brickwork in which the bricks break joints but areseparated by wide gaps, the material CA corresponding in this view ofthe bed of Fig. 2 to the mortar of the brickwork.

By the regular arrangement of component parts of the root growing bedscharacterizing the construction described and illustrated there issecured a uniformity in the growth and character of the vegetation grownon the beds not otherwise obtainable.

\Vhile in accordance with the provisions of the statutes I haveillustrated and described the best forms of my invention now known tome, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes may bemade in the form of the apparatus disclosed without departing from thespirit of my invention, and that under some conditions .certain featuresof my invention may be used with advantage without a corresponding useof other features;

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a root growing bed the combination with bodies of material havinga large water absorbing and holding capacity and containing root food,of material readily penetrable by growing roots which spaces said bodiesapart and has a considerable air containing void space.

2. In a root growing bed the combination with bodies of material havinga large water absorbing and holding capacity and containing root food,of intervening bodies spacing the first mentioned bodies apart andformed of material readily penetrable by growing roots, and having aconsiderable air containing void space.

3. In a root growing bed the combination with bodies of material havinga large water absorbing and holding capacity and containing root food,of material readily penetrable by growing roots which spaces said bodiesapart and hasa considerable air containing void space, said bodiesoverlapping one another so as to intercept substantially allll vgatlertending to pass downward through t e e 4. In a root growing bed thecombination 1 growing roots and having a considerable air contaming voidspace, said bodies being inclmed to the horizontal and overlapping oneanother.

6. In a root growing bed the combination wlth bodies of material havinga large water absorbing and holding capacity and containing root food,of intervening bodies spacing the first mentioned bodies apart andformed of material readily penetrable by growing roots and having aconsiderable air containing void space, said intervening bodies beingexpanded at their upper edges and the first mentioned bodies beingcorrespondmgly narrowed at their upper edges.

7 In a root growing bed the combination with a deep rooting subsoilconsisting of bodies of material having a large water absorbing andholding capacity andcontain- 1ng root food, and material, readilypenetrable by growing roots, which spaces said bod es apart and has aconsiderable air con taining void space, and a top soil serving as amulch restricting evaporation from the subsoil.

8. In a root growing bed the combination with bodies of materialhavingalarge water absorbing and holding capacity and containing root food, ofintervening bodies spacing the first mentioned bodies apart and formedof material readily penetrable by growing roots and having aconsiderable air containing void space, said first mentioned bodiesbeing composed of a mixture of a fine granular substance of anon-nutritive character with a rich root food.

9L In a root growing bed the combination with bodies of material havinga large water absorbing and holding capacity and containing root food,of intervening bodies, spacing the first mentioned bodies apart, ofmaterial readily penetrable by growing roots and having a considerable.air containing void space, said first mentioned bodies being composed ofa mixture of fine clay with a rich root food.

10. In a root growing bed the combina tion with bodies of materialhaving a large-gis water absorbing and holding capacity and 13 ycontaining root food, of intervening bodies, spacing the first mentionedbodies apart, of material readily penetrable by growing roots and havinga considerable air containing void space, said first mentioned bodiesbeing composed of fine clay mixed with cow manure.

11. In a root growing bed in combination with bodies of material havinga large water absorbing and holding capacity and containing root food,of intervening material spacing'said bodies apart and comprising acellular framework formed by small stones, the vold spaces of saidframework containing air and being adapted to receive growing roots. v

12. In a root growing bed in combination with bodies of material havinga large water absorbing and holding capacity and containing root food,of intervening material spacing said bodies apart and comprising acellular framework formed by porous small stones, said frameworkcontaining air and being adapted to receive growing roots.

13. In a root growing bed the combination with bodies of material havinga large water absorbing and holding capacity and containing root food,of intervening material spacing said bodies apart and comprising acellular framework formed of small stones of a composition adapted togive'basisity to the to receive growing roots.

15. In a root growing bed comprising in combination an underlyingdrainage layer of broken rock, a deep rooting subsoil comprisingalternate layers composed'of a mixture of dense clay with a root foodmaterial and intermediate layers of small stones 'Wlth void spacestherein partially filled with a water absorbing and plant foodnourishing materiaLsaid layers being inclined to the horizontal andoverlapping one another, and

a top soil stratum adapted to serve as a mulch restricting evaporationfrom the subsoil stratum and to encourage the germination of seeds andthe propagation of new roots.

FREDERICK TAYLOR.

Witnesses ARNOLD KA'rz, JOSEPH R. Bonoo'r.

